Scent of a Mate

Chapter 17

Nate
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After Ricky's outburst she ran out of the room leaving us all in our seats. I looked around the room and saw shock and pity in the elders eyes.  I sat in my chair in shock as a uncomfortable silence settled across the room. A heavy hand landed on my shoulder. I looked up to see Craig right next to me.

"Meeting adjourned." He announced. "Thank you for your council."

As they muttered amongst themselves, the elders and wearily got up and files out of the room. I however continued to sit assessing the situation.

Six months.....

Of course the moon goddess had such an unfortunate fate set up for me. I never wanted love and as soon as I got it she was destined to die.

I wearily sighed. Naturally I would follow Craig's instructions. Go to the sorceress and try to find a solutions to the problem.

And if that doesn't work?

Craig squeezed his hand on my shoulder bringing me back to reality. I looked up at him and saw a gentle smile on his face.

"You know that when a girl runs out of a room after throwing a fit, it usually means she wants a certain guy to follow."

I looked down and huffed.

"It didn't seem like she wanted me to."

Craig rolled his eyes.

"For a smart äss you sure are an idiot." And with that he walked out the room

Six months.....

Love was distracting. It took up time. I can't say I was in love with Ricky but I can say that she had my mind in a whirl, and I rarely found myself in that position.

I stood up from my seat and walked out of room. I guess I was going to find her, but what the hell would I do when I found her?
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I ran out of the conference room and headed straight for her bed room only to find that she wasn't there. I ran out of pack house and looked around the village. I saw people scurrying around, attending to their responsibilities, but no sign of Ricky.

I lifted my nose intending to sniff her out.

She ran past the pack house. Into the wheat fields.

I sprinted in that direction. Over half of the wheat had been harvested and the rest was still being gathered before winter came. As I ran up to the fields a few of the farmers came approached me and I could see that something or someone interrupted their harvesting.

"Let me guess a she wolf ran straight into the fields."

One of the farmers nodded his head, "Cried the whole way through."

I thanked them and hurried into the fields. I let my nose lead me, sniffing out the sweet, simple, kind, compassionate scent. When the scent finally reached his peak, I pushed aside stalks of wheat and found her.

She was absolutely wrecked. Curled up on the ground as she stared at nothing. I didn't know what to say or how to comfort her. I was never good at the touchie feelie stuff. So I just stood there and stared at her.  

"I didn't know you were a farming pack."

She was now staring right at me. Her stare was unsettling. It was like she was looking through me.

"Um... Yeah. M-mostly wheat but other families plant stuff too. Like carrots, corn, tomatoes......"

She looked away and continued to stare into space. I shifted uncomfortably.

What the hell do I say?

"H-harvest time gets pretty c-crazy though. Everybody starts rushing around harvesting and stuff you should s-see these guys take these stalks down. It's craz-"

She started to chuckle still staring off into space.

"Um... Ricky are you o-"

"How is it that you are the one acting like a nervous wreck?"

She was now looking up at me with wet, poofy eyes and a red face. Her statement took me by surprise.

"I-I'm sorry. I- I don't-"

Ricky let out a laugh and shook her head.

"You're so cute."

She patted the ground next to her. It took me a few seconds but I eventually understood that it meant sit down, so I rushed over to sit.

There were a few minutes of silence before she finally started to speak.

"I ran away from my pack."

I looked back at her in surprise, but to be completely honest, from what I've seen from her so far, that fits her strong, independent attitude.

She continued, "I'm the daughter of the Beta of Twilight Moon."

Now that surprised me. She didn't act like a higher ranking wolf.

"You mean that twinkle town, lame ass pack in California?"

She let out a laugh that was a relief to hear based on the situation we were in.

"Yeah, that pack, and trust me it was as horrible as you can imagine."

We  both chuckled and then once again settled into a tense silence. A look of sadness crossed her face as she hugged her legs and placed her chin on the top of her knees. She looked so vulnerable. 

" I ran away so that I could find my happiness. The people in Twilight Moon had such a skewed view of what life was supposed to be. Everyone had to be beautiful to be happy. Everyone had to be perfect and I just wasn't. I'm not and I never will be."

Tears flowed down her cheeks. She looked anxious and defeated. She smelled it too.

"Now that I'm finally here. Now that I'm finally in this pack, I thought, for just one second, that I could finally find happiness. I thought I could find acceptance. I thought I could find love."

At the sound of that dangerous L word my heart clenched.

She's my one chance at love isn't she?